SQL Cookbook

This book belongs on the bookshelf of every SQL developer. It's an incredible reference for those times when you're wondering "Now, how do I write a SQL statement that will do that?" It's clearly written and organized in a fashion that facilitates finding quick answers to common problems.

Pros

Cons

O'Reilly's SQL Cookbook by Anthony Molinaro is the best reference I've seen for skilled SQL developers. Modeled after a true cookbook, it offers many short snippets of SQL code designed to solve specific problems. You can pick and choose the ingredients you need to help complete your SQL project.

Each item in the cookbook is clearly explained in a Problem/Solution/Discussion format. Molinaro offers different solutions for each of the database platforms supported by the book (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL and DB2) and points out platform deficiencies where they exist.

The solutions themselves are organized into 14 categories:

• Retrieving Records
• Sorting Query Results
• Working with Multiple Tables
• Inserting, Updating, Deleting
• Metadata Queries
• Working with Strings
• Working with Numbers
• Date Arithmetic
• Date Manipulation
• Working with Ranges
• Advanced Searching
• Reporting and Warehousing
• Hierarchical Queries
• Odds 'n' Ends

My only complaint? There's no CD included with the book, so you're on your own retyping the content into your development environment.